'Tourists don't know where they've been, travellers don't know where
they're going...' (Paul Thesany)
Hi guys! Feels like an AGE since I wrote my last post; time sure does fly
when you’re having fun! So, after our three days in the lap of luxury at the JW Marriott, Khao Lak, it was time to
embark upon what was to be our last month in Thailand. Long gone were the
beaches of the South; from now on, our daily views would consist of the
beautiful mountains and general greenery of Northern Thailand.
First stop… Chiang Mai. As luck would have it, our visit coincided with the
huge ‘Songkran’ festival. This city is noted as one of the best to be in to
partake in the annual water festival marking the beginning of Thai New Year. I
envisioned us watching some nice water shows to bring in the New Year... How wrong
I was! Stupidly, we decided to take a ‘tuk-tuk’ from the bus station to our new
digs; HUGE mistake. Within ten minutes we were drenched. Literally sopping wet.
(Note to self: travel via a ‘closed-air’ vehicle during a water festival)
During the four day spectacle, locals and tourists alike line the streets and aim
to soak everything and everyone using an array of tools, from shop bought water
pistols to a good old bucket. It brings good luck apparently, although I'm sure
it brought on a few colds as well after four days of being repeatedly doused in
ice cold water. Don’t get me wrong, it was loads of fun – I particularly
enjoyed chucking water all over girls who’d made a little too much effort to
come to a water festival (eye-liner, anyone?!) Although, after a while, I’d have
to pretend that it was fine when
groups of Thai kids found it hilarious to come up and soak me. Just as I’d
wrung myself out. Aren't children the best?!
Now, most of you know that I'm all about the animals; how could I not be,
having been brought up in a house riddled with strays and RSPCA cast-off's?! So,
you can imagine my excitement when I found out I’d be able to get up close to
both tigers and elephants in Chiang Mai. ‘Tiger Kingdom’ comprises of about
thirty Bengal tigers, ranging from a few months to about two years old, which have all been
bred in captivity. Obviously, they’ll never be able to be set free into the wild and
therefore will always remain in captivity. This is not ideal, but given the
current situation in regards to the near extinction of the species, it's
understood to be better than to have no tigers at all. I thoroughly read up on
this place before we went as I did not want to pay to contribute to animal
cruelty. A lot of the reviews are written by vets and all of them agree that
the animals are not drugged, which was my major reservation against going. In
fact, the tigers have been used to humans since birth and therefore do not see
us as the enemy. Yes, they appear pretty docile and are not fazed when you’re
with them up close, but this isn't down to anything medicinal. They’re a nocturnal
species so obviously aren't going to be ‘bright eyed and bushy tailed’ during
daytime visiting hours. I mean, would YOU want to be running round in 40 degree
heat? They all appear to be healthy and well fed, too, with shiny coats and nice,
white teeth. Good enough for me. We chose to go in with the ‘small’ category;
the cubs were about three to four months old and were, as you can imagine,
unbelievably cute. They were relaxed and, well, happy. They seemed to have a
great relationship with the people who care for them, who were not violent
towards them in the slightest, from what I saw. The entire experience was
rather surreal; there I was, stroking these cubs as I would a bunch of kittens
when in reality, they’ll grow up to be one of the biggest predators in the
world. It’s just a shame that they’ll never be able to experience true freedom,
like their relatives in the wild.
I've always felt a connection with elephants; my earliest memory is
sticking my arm out of the window of the car at the Safari Park, only to have
it disappear up the trunk of a nosey Nelly So, when I heard about the plight
of one Thai woman to save domestic, or ‘working’, elephants from abominable
cruelty, I knew I had to visit ‘Elephant Nature Park’, just outside of Chiang
Mai. Lek, this amazing lady, actively goes out into the Thai community and pays
the owners of these elephants to give them up so they can come and live out the
rest of their lives in her amazing reserve. You've all seen, or at least heard
of, companies offering elephant rides and individuals in rural areas who still
use elephants in labour tasks. These are what are classed as ‘working’
elephants. These activities obviously do not come naturally to elephants and they
have to endure what can only be described as horrific cruelty in order to
become submissive. It’s a good job we were shown the documentary detailing this
at the end of the day, otherwise I’d have been in tears for the entire
experience. Grown men were openly weeping at the footage, it’s that bad. It
will DEFINITELY make you think twice about riding an elephant. No animal
deserves to go through what they do; it’s known as ‘breaking their spirit’ and
it’s a wonder that these beautiful creatures can go on living after suffering
the abuse and torture their owners put them through. This all changes, though,
once Lek gets her hands on them. She leaves them to their own devices to roam
around the huge sanctuary, complete with river, so they can wander freely. They
each have an assigned ‘mahout’ (their own personal ‘carer’, if you like) who
follows them around all day, offering constant fruit treats and a bit of TLC.
What an amazing place. I couldn't wait to get involved.
We participated in several ‘feeding times’; there is a central feeding
station where each elephant has their own individual basket filled with food
specific to their own dietary requirements. Some of the older ones, bless them,
can’t digest certain foods and their teeth aren't strong enough to crunch
through some of the fruits and vegetables. Several times throughout the day,
the mahouts lead their elephants toward the station where the volunteers are
free to feed the elephant their basket. You forget how intelligent these
animals are; the younger ones, rather than wait to be fed each piece
individually, impatiently grab the whole basket with their trunk and filter out
the tastiest morsels, leaving the bits they don’t find so appealing (normally
fruit with medicine hidden in it!). The older ones are more than happy for you
to place the food in their trunk, or even their mouth, and are more than happy
for you to touch them as they contentedly chew their meal. It was then time to
grab a bucket and head down to the river to join in with ‘bathing time’.
Elephants love water and their favourite past-time is to cool themselves off in
it. Some fully submerge themselves in the water – a sight worth seeing – and
although it felt weird, chucking buckets of water over an elephant, there was
no question that they loved it.
Throughout the day, as we got more and more acquainted with each individual
elephant, we were told of their history and how they came to be rescued. Each
story is heart-wrenching. Most of the elephants here are physically disabled in
some way, due to their previous working conditions. A few are blind, having
been poked in the eye with sharp sticks as a form of discipline; others are
maimed, having been tortured or having old injuries that were not treated. One
particular elephant, bless her, had her hips broken after her owner physically
forced a male onto her back to procreate, and will never walk normally again. It
makes you sick to the stomach to think there are individuals out there that can
live with themselves after treating these animals in such a way and not feel a
single shred of guilt. As the sanctuary is self-funded, I can only hope us
tourists continue to visit so Lek can carry on with her inspiring mission to
save such an awesome creature.
Before I found us any more animal-based activities to do and ended up
forking out our entire travel fund to help a few elephants, we decided to move
on from Chiang Mai and visit the lesser known cities of Pai and Chiang Rai. Pai
was, by far, my favourite place in the North and I’d recommend it to anyone. It’s
a small place full of hippies; the Pretentious Posse were out in full force
(minus their shoes, obviously!) We visited a few waterfalls and generally
chilled out after the craziness of ‘Songkran’. I must tell you about our
journey from Pai-Chiang Rai; you’d think by now we’d be used to travelling in
all sorts of conditions, whether it be hot/cold/cramped… Try a packed minibus
travelling at speeds of 100 mph on windy, mountain roads at 6am. NOT pleasant.
Both of us had plastic bags at the ready, the Mac was the colour of off-milk and
I had my eye-mask on, desperately trying to concentrate on anything other than
heaving my guts up. I never get motion sickness, but after that journey I'm VERY wary of travelling by minibus! I don’t know whether the driver had a hot
date hence the rush; there was an adorable baby girl on-board who managed to sleep
through all of this, but THEN decided to exercise her lungs just as we returned
to a normal speed. Not so cute then. It gets worse… After driving for nearly
two hours more than the estimated arrival time, the driver stops the van on a
busy, market street and starts pointing at an official-looking building,
shouting ‘Visa! Visa!’. We just looked at each other. We’d somehow managed to
get on a bus that was doing a visa-run to the Laos border. WHAT THE HELL? Alarm
bells really should’ve started ringing hours before, as we were loading our
rucksacks into the van. We were the only passengers with luggage. But I was so
tired, and I am a bit dozy, so didn't think anything of it. The driver
obviously didn't speak any English (why would he?!) but somehow we were finally
dropped at the bus station in Chiang Rai, five hours later than planned. Ah well,
at least the rest of the passengers found it hilarious that we’d sat on the bus
all day for no reason whatsoever!
And that’s it, my friends. That concludes our Thailand adventure (for now).
In a way, I've come to think of Thailand as my second home; we've been
in-and-out countless times and it seems so familiar now. I do think it’s time
we moved on, though, and experienced somewhere completely different with a new
culture and surroundings. And with four months left until Australia… right
then, Laos, let’s be having you!
